Things You Don't Want Know, and Probably Shouldn't
by GryffindorGals
Summary: Laying down in her sleep, Lily rested her head subconsciously on James’ lap. Sirius looked over at James watching Lily sleep and smiled.“Wow Prongs, maybe this whole stuck-out-in-the-middle-of-the-lake-thing is actually working out for you.” James/Lily
1. An Unwanted Acquaintance

Lily Evans sighed happily as she walked up to the Hogwarts Express. _This was going to be a great year,_ she thought to herself. She had just been made Head Girl and was fully prepared to take on her duties. But there was one problem, that one tiny thing that crept its way into her mind every so often. Who was Head Boy? Lily had spent the whole summer pondering this. It was probably Remus, it had to be him. He _was_ already a prefect after all…

James Potter gave his parents a fleeting hug and darted off with Sirius towards the Hogwarts Express. His blazing hazel eyes fell upon the train at last, the crisp red paint, and the puffs of steam drifting around the station, fogging it up. He was ready to take on this years challenge head on as the new fully appointed Gryffindor Head Boy. True, he wasn't to happy when he first found out, but the more he thought about it, the more excited he became. Sure, the title came with a ton of responsibilities, but think of all the good things. He had the power to deduct points from any house, (cough) Slytherin, (cough). Also there was the power of being to make (almost) anyone do (almost) anything he wanted them to. Now don't forget the extra quality time he got to spend with a girl. Not just any girl, the Head Girl. James had a bubbly feeling in his stomach telling him who she was, but he wouldn't know for sure for another few minutes…

James looked back down at the paper he was holding to check the compartment number again. Number 394. This was the compartment that prefects' meeting was to be held in. He opened the door and seated himself in a cold, squishy seat. Now all he had to do was wait for the Head Girl (and Prefects) to arrive.

Lily pushed her trunk onto the train and rushed aboard. She was excited, yet nervous for the meeting that waited her. She thought she was totally prepared for what lay ahead, but nothing could prepare her for whom she saw next sitting in HER meeting compartment.

"Potter!?" Lily exclaimed when she saw that oh-so-familiar face grinning back at her.

"Evans, it's so nice to see you. How was your summer? "James replied with a smug look on his face.

Lily ignored this completely and went on to yell, "Potter! What the hell are you doing in here? I do NOT have the patience to deal with you right now! Just go and give that Head Boy badge to the real Head Boy so I can get on with my meeting!"

James looked a little stunned to see Lily yelling at him so fiercely. _She's so cute when she's angry,_ James thought. _Focus James focus!_

"Lily," James said calmly, trying hard to keep a smile from creeping up onto his face, "I really am Head Boy, I've got the papers from McGonnagal right here," James handed her the crumpled letter. Lily read it quickly. Before she could say anything in her own defense, the prefects started pilling in.

The meeting went along quite smoothly. Lily and James were both glad that it was over, really. It was a nerve-racking experience for usually shy and quiet Lily; James just thought it was a waste of time. The only reason he really even bothered to go was because of Lily. He wanted to prove to her how responsible he could be he wanted to show her how he had really changed. On a regular occasion he wouldn't have bothered to go at all, but Lily was different, and this year was his last chance to prove himself to her.

Lily stepped out of the compartment after all the prefects and James had hurried out, and came face to face with Lily's best friend… and James' cousin, Emily Potter.

"So… How'd it go?" she asked Lily with a sly smile.

Lily had been friends with Emily since their first year, and since then, Emily had changed a lot. She had gone from sweet, shy, little Emily, too outgoing, punk, and almost emo Emily. It scared Lily just thinking about it. Actually, Em did look on the verge of emo today with her butt-length jet-black hair lined with inch-wide aqua blue streaks. Her side-bangs half covering her left bright aqua eye. Emily also loved make-up. In fact, she was obsessed with it, eyeliner, eye shadow, mascara, anything that would "complete her look". Today she was wearing black mascara, black eyeliner (just on her bottom lid), and a little bit of brown eye shadow. Clothing wise, she had on a light-blue hoodie with a black tank top under it, and light-blue plaid Bermuda shorts with fishnet tights under them. To complete the look, she had on her favorite shoes, a pair of black high-top converse. Emily had a very _interesting_ style when it came to muggle clothes.

Lily then had a flashback of last summer when she had made the mistake of taking Emily to the mall. Em, having magical parents, never learned many muggle style tips, and the mall… Well, the mall was just not the place to take someone like Emily. She pointed and laughed at the normal and practical things, and would always say to Lily, "How much stupider can these muggles get?" Emily also bought the oddest things. Two of which were a couple of pairs of fishnet tights and the infamous converse. She was (and still is) obsessed with those black converse. (End of flashback)

"Shut up." Lily answered her friend's question, trying to push by her to get to the compartment, but Emily stood her ground.

"Sooo?" Emily said in a singsong voice.

"So what?" Lily said.

"You know what." Emily replied, then crossed her arms and hardened her face. "I'm not moving until you tell me what happened."

"Ems," Lily sighed, "be reasonable. There are people trying to get by, and you know I don't feel like talking about Potter. I have enough stress as it is. I'm Head Girl, but not just Head Girl; I'm Head girl with that prat cousin of yours."

Emily smiled, "now we're getting somewhere!"

"Em, please, not in the corridor!" Lily pleaded.

Emily's arms fell to her sides in defeat and she began to walk towards their compartment. Lily, sighing with relief, followed close behind her.

When they were both inside the compartment along with their two other friends, Alice and Mary, and the door was shut tight, Emily spoke, "Lils, the only reason I let you go back there was because I wanted to talk to you about Sirius."

_Oh no, here she goes again!_ Lily thought, and rolled her eyes. Emily was also obsessed with boys; it was one of her strengths, and one of her weaknesses. Sometimes she would get too caught up in a relationship. Em could get any guy she wanted, and this time she wanted the Marauder, Sirius Black.

"I saw that eye-roll!" Emily accused, then she went into a trance, leaning back in her seat and closing her bright shining eyes and saying, "Sirius is so hot."

"I woke her last time!" Mary said.

"The time before that!" Lily called.

"Oh you gits!" Alice laughed, leaning over to the seat opposite her and blowing in Emily's face. There was a high-pitched, "ahhh!" and a laugh throughout the compartment.

"Why don't you just ask him out already? You've liked him since last term," Mary asked Emily.

"I want him to ask me out, not the other way around. You guys _know_ that I never _ever _ask guys out. It shows that you are the weaker one in the relationship. If a guy really likes you, he'll ask you out," Emily had memorized this line exactly from one of Lily's cheesy muggle relationship magazines, but would never admit to having read them. "And anyway, he had a girlfriend all last term," Emily finished.

"Ah hem," Alice corrected, "You mean girlfriends with an 's' last term."

"Whatever," Emily said in a very Emily-ish voice, "I know he'll notice me this year, he better!"

"Speak of the devil," Lily whispered just as two of the Marauders burst in. James and Sirius.

"Hey cuz, "James said, "Alice, Mary and Lily," he continued. When he said Lily's name he winked at her.

"What do you want Potter?" Lily asked, annoyed.

James pondered this for a while. "You rally want to know what I want?"

Lily sighed and put her head in her hands.

"I want," he continued, running a hand through his already messy jet-black hair, "for you to go out with me."

"James, if she hasn't gone out with you by now, it isn't going to work. I know Lily," Emily said jumping to Lily's defense.

Lily was so surprised that she sat up and put on of her hands to her mouth. Mary had to finally nudge her to make her put her hand down.

Alice then spoke up, "Do you guys know where Frank is?"

"Oh yeah," Sirius said, "He's back in the compartment with Remus and Peter."

"Good, I wanted to ask him something…" Alice said as she got up and squeezed by the two Marauders, closely followed by Mary.

With a couple empty seats, James and Sirius sat down. James sat next to Lily, and ironically Sirius sat next to Emily. Oh no, Lily thought, Emily is now in control.

"So, err, Sirius, how was your summer?" Emily asked turning to Sirius and winking.

"Eh, okay I guess. Yours?"

"Pretty good," Emily replied, now turning to face Lily and James.

"Lily, did your summer go well?"

"Oh I'm sure you missed me Lily," Sirius cut in.

"Shut up Sirius," Emily said turning to him.

"Oh did _you_ miss me Emily?"

Emily mouth opened, but no words came out for a few moments. "Err, I, uh," she attempted, cheeks turning pink.

"Oooo!" James said standing up, "Does Emily have a little thing for Sirius?" Sirius was starting to redden also. Lily stood up and turned to face James.

"James, Sirius! Leave!" she shouted and pointed to the door.

Sirius immediately got up and pushed James out into the hallway. Lily slammed the door shut after them and sat down again, glaring at Emily.

"What?" Emily questioned with an attitude.

Lily was saved from answering by the lady who pushes the trolley barging in.

"Anything off the trolley?" she asked she asked rather loudly.

Lily shook her head while Emily said, "Five chocolate frogs two pumpkin pasties, and some bertie botts every flavor beans please."

"Here you are dear," the woman said handing Emily the candy, "That will be four sickles and five knuts dear," Emily handed her the money, and then she chucked Lily a chocolate frog. Lily opened it and sighed.

"Great, Dumbledore again," Lily said to herself. She opened the compartment window and let the frog climb out.

Emily shook her head, "I don't know why I always give those to you," she laughed, "You won't eat the chocolate frog and you don't enjoy collecting the cards either."

"I have a weak stomach," Lily replied. "And plus, it's hard to eat something that squirms in your mouth."

The two friends looked at each other and laughed. It wasn't too soon after that, that Mary and Alice both re-joined them in the compartment.  
"Hey Alice," Emily blurted out, "What did you have to ask Frank?"  
Alice gave her a guilty look, "Oh... err... nothing."  
"No, I really think it was something..." Emily fought, "Mary, what did Alice ask Frank?"  
"I don't know actually, Alice kicked me out into the hallway," Mary said unconcerned.  
Lily opened her mouth but paused before asking, "How long have you two been going out again?"

"Err, two years... and... counting..." Alice replied uncertainly answering like she

was asking the question.

Emily and Lily locked eyes, Lily's green ones searched her friend's aqua ones. Sometimes, they could just tell what the other was thinking without speaking.  
Alice examined her sneakers, refusing to meet any one else's eyes.

"Okay Alice, we believe you," Emily said.

"Yep, you didn't talk to Frank about anything..." Lily finished, making everyone

but Alice giggle.  
"It wasn't like that!" Alice defended herself quickly. She sighed deeply, "I told

him I wanted a break this term, but he wanted me to think about it-"  
"Alice! Don't even think about it!" Lily scolded, "Why would you ever want to do that?"  
Alice put her elbows on the table and massaged her temples, "Gosh Lily, I don't know."  
"Alice, what you have with Frank is very special, you shouldn't take it for granted," Lily said staring out the window dreamily and sighing.  
"The way you passionately look into each others eyes..." Lily broke with another dreamy sigh. Everyone knew Lily was jealous of Alice's relationship with Frank. The three other girls tried to hold their laughter. Mary cracked first, soon followed by all the other girls in the compartment. Lily included. When it subsided, Emily asked, "Lily, we were laughing at you, you do know that, right?"  
"I know," Lily responded, "When you guys start laughing, I just can't stop my self from laughing too," she shrugged.  
Just then, an anxious looking James knocked on their compartment door. Lily, giving her mischievously smiling friends an _I'll kill you if you say anything _stare, reluctantly stood up and opened the glass sliding door just enough to stick her head out.  
"What do you want this time Potter?" she asked sternly.  
"Umm... We're supposed to patrol the corridor in ten minutes, so, err, you might want to change," James replied nervously.  
Sensing the uncertainty in his voice, Lily replied, "Oh, okay... umm... I'll get my robes on then..."  
James nodded his head, "Meet me in the Heads Compartment in ten minutes. "Yeah," Lily said and slid the door shut once again.  
Noticing as she set down that the compartment had gone very quiet, Lily spoke up, "Err, what were we talking about?" she asked her three friends.  
"How stupid you were for turning down a hottie like that so many times!" Mary exclaimed, tugging at a golden lock of shoulder-length hair.  
Everyone laughed except Lily who just smiled nervously.  
"I gotta go," Lily stated after her friends laughter subsided.

"Miss Head Girl has to go fulfill her duties." Alice said watching Lily take her trunk down from the rack above them and extract her robes.

Lily stuck her tongue out at Alice then slipped her robes on over her clothes and pinned her Head Girl badge onto her left sides upper torso.

"I'll be back in a while," she told her friends just before she exited the compartment. When she reached where James was waiting for her, he spoke up first.

"Our duties at Hogwarts are," he read from a schedule in his hand, "Patrolling from six thirty to nine on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights, organize meetings with the Prefects every other week, decide when our trips to Hogsmeade are, help the first years get to classes, and not kill each other."

"Seriously Potter, what's the last one?" Lily said slightly annoyed.

"Err, it really does say that," James said handing her the parchment.

"I don't hate him that much," Lily said quietly to herself. James heard this and smiled.

Right," Lily said aloud.

"At this moment, we will be patrolling from now until one thirty," James continued.Lily checked her watch-it was twelve twenty seven. Only an hour, how bad could it be?

James must have seen the relief Lily had displayed on her face because just then he said, "We'd better get started then." He wanted to spend as much time as possible with Lily this year.

An hour later, Lily was walking back to her friends with a smile on her face. So far, today had gone surprisingly well, the exception of finding out James was Head Boy. Randomly realizing her shoe was untied, Lily bent down and laced it back up again. When she stood up, she hit something with the back of her head. It was Sirius Black. It was Sirius Black's butt.

"Sirius?" Lily asked confused.

"Evans?" Sirius asked confused as well. Then he put a smirk on his thin face. "Did your head just hit my butt?"

Lily's jaw dropped. "Excuse me! I believe it was your butt that hit my head!" she retorted.

"No, I'm pretty sure it was the other way around," he remarked smartly. Well, smartly for Sirius.

"Whatever Sirius, I don't have the patience for this. Just get out of my way!"

"You forgot the magic word Lils!" Sirius crossed his arms childishly.

"Sirius!" she screeched as she tried to push past him.

Sirius stepped back frightened into the compartment he was sharing with the rest of the Marauders and Frank. Lily could hear him shouting, "Lily Evans just touched my butt! Out in the corridor!"

"Lily," she told herself, "calm down. You know he is not worth it! Deep calming breathes. Murdering Sirius could cause you to loose your Heads badge."

"Lily, I'm waiting…" Emily was telling Lily five minutes later once she was back in her compartment.

"Are you going to do this every time I see… him?" she asked helplessly.

"Depends…" Emily replied almost immediately.

Lily sighed.

"Do you have any idea how lucky you are?" Mary asked Lily, "Lils, every other girl in the school would love to be in your shoes." Alice nudged her and Emily gave her a look of horror and disgust. "Well that is everyone but Alice and Emily any way." Mary finished glancing crazily at Alice.

Silence followed this remark.

"Your so lucky," Emily said suddenly facing Alice, who was combing her hands through her full head of dark brown hair. "Not having to worry about guys," she paused, worry filling her innocent looking eyes. "I only got asked out twelve times last term!" she pouted. "Is there something wrong with me? Why do only geeks ask me out now? It looked like something was still bothering her. She turned to Lily. "Am I becoming un- sexy?

Lily laughed out loud at this. "No Em, your just as sexy as you were last year, if not more," she said sarcastically.

"Really?" Emily asked again.

"Of course!" Lily assured.

"Umm, why are we talking about this?" Alice asked.

Lily looked at Mary and saw laughter engulf her bright brown eyes. Emily continued to look gloomy.

"What about you Alice? Do you think I'm just smexi, do you?"

Confusion smiled upon Alice's piercing sky blue eyes.

"Smexi?" she asked.

"Semi-sexy?" Emily provided.

"Err, no. Of course not Em." She sounded baffled by Emily's newfound word. This was almost a bad as alienishly smartyness, a word Em used to describe Lily's intelligence. This remark was followed by the squeak of the compartment door opening.

"I knew you guys had secrets, but I didn't know you were lesbians!" Sirius shouted, apparently he'd over heard their conversation.

"Ignore him," James covered his friend.

"Potter, I just had to spend an hour with you, don't push it!" Lily exclaimed.

James smiled apologetically, "Sorry, but Padfoot over here has been shouting that you touched his butt," he turned hopefully to Lily. "That's not true… right?"

Lily opened her mouth, and then closed it. A sly smile appeared on her face. "Yeah, that's right," she said casually.

Every single jaw in the compartment dropped at Lily's words.

"What?" James asked sharply, eyebrows raised, turning to Sirius.

Lily smiled, " Jeze Potter, take a joke."

"So… y-you didn't?" James stuttered.

"No," she said simply and attempted to shut the door on them, but he held it open.

"Potter!" she screamed, "If you don't get out of here this instant, I swear I'll hex you to next Friday!"

"Come on Prongs," Sirius pretended to huff, "Clearly we aren't wanted here!" he pulled on James' robes. James admitted defeat and lagged behind Sirius.

"Gits," Lily muttered to herself.

"I think someone's got a thing for James!" Emily sang. She raised an eyebrow. Lily gave Emily a glare that would give ghosts a run for their money. Emily backed down, knowing if she was mad enough, her friend could get very ugly.

The four friends spent the rest of the train ride playing exploding snap, a game Mary was particularly good at. Quiddich also came up as a topic. Emily, Mary and Alice all loved the sport. Lily wasn't too fond of it though, mostly because of a one specific someone. Just like good looks, good Quiddich skills ran through the Potter family. Both James and Emily were brilliant at it. James as seeker and Emily as chaser, they were the star players on their team.

"McGonnagal said last year we might get new robes," Emily said excitedly. "I'm hoping that James' name on the back will be a misprint. The commentator's always getting us mixed up."

"I think we're there," Mary said jumping up and peering out the window.

Alice rubbed her hands together, "Oooh goodie! I'm starving!"


	2. Black Hair Plus Blue Streaks is Trouble

Black Hair Plus Blue Streaks Equals Trouble

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A/N:

**PLEASE READ, IMPORTANT!**

Hey this is Hannah and Alana, we kind of forgot to add author notes last time, so here they are now!

This is our second story; our first one wasn't worth crap!

Emily Potter is based on out best friend Emily. Most everything that happens in our story happened in real life one way or another. Just to let everyone know, Emily is _**NOT**_ emo! She just dresses kind of like it, she is really more punk acting.

I, Alana, apologize for all of the typos in "An Unwanted Acquaintance". I didn't read it over after Hannah had typed it. BIG MISTAKE, NEVER WILL DO AGAIN!

Enjoy the chappie : P

* * *

"Potter, this is only going to work if you abide all of my rules," Lily told James clearly. "One- never show up late for your duties!" Which was exactly what he had just done. James swore on his Uncle Clyde's grave that he would hex Sirius to hell for holding him up and making Lily angry with him.

"Two," Lily continued, "If you don't act the way a responsible Head Boy would, I have every right to go to McGonagall and request that you be replaced."

James nodded his head, pretending to listen. His mind was really on what curse he was going to use on Sirius.

"Thirdly, I don't want you taking points from Slytherin- or any house for that matter- if you don't have a good reason to do so." Lily finished sighing, " Are you or are you not capable of following these rules?"

She made direct eye contact with him. James examined her sparkling green eyes while she looked into his deep hazel ones.

"Why don't you decide that for yourself? Hmmm?" he answered, and then changed the subject, "So where are we patrolling first?"

"On the third, fourth, and fifth floors," said a half stunned Lily.

"Okay, I'll do the fifth and we'll meet half way on the fourth?" he asked.

"Sure," Lily replied.

James waved, "See you then," he said as he made his way to his patrolling corridor.

Lily smiled distractedly at him until he was out of eyeshot. Then she hurried off to the third floor to start her patrol.

About three quarters of the way done with the third floor, Lily heard a crash nearby. She hurried over to the noises source and found that a suit of armor had toppled over. Then she heard a familiar shriekas Emily suddenly came intoview lying on top of the suit of armor.

"Emily?" Lily called.

"Shit! Emily shouted, then turned around, "Lily- it's just you!"

Lily stared suspiciously at the scene while Emily stood up and gathered herself together.

"Care to explain?" Lily asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Well, yeah… umm- you see…" she began.

"What is that?" Lily asked, wide eyed, looking at the strange blue-silver cloak Emily was holding.

Emily sighed, "Okay," she said more to herself than Lily, "I borrowed this cloak from James. I was on my way to the kitchens to sneak some food and tripped over this fucking suit of armor."

"What kind of cloak is it?" Lily automatically asked.

Emily fidgeted, "Yeah… about that, well, I'm really not supposed to know about it…"

Lily motioned for her to continue.

"It's an… an invisibility cloak," she finished straight forward, then braced herself for Lily's reaction.

"A WHAT?" Lily replied angrily.

Emily flinched, closing her eyes. "An invisibility cloak?" she said in a small voice.

Lily stood there for a moment… no, it was more than a moment. Closing her eyes slowly and taking deep breaths, she calmed herself.

"Do I dare ask why you now hold this is in your possession?" she asked finally.

"Sirius was muttering about it one night when he fell asleep on the couch in the common room…" Emily trailed off.

"Potter!" Lily growled teeth gritted before she took off towards the fifth floor.

Emily hurried after her. "Lily this is my fault! You shouldn't even know about this-" Emily tried.

"The thing is Emily, I already do! Potter is so dead!" Lily screeched.

The two friends had made their way to the staircase just before the fifth floor when James came around the corner.

"Hey Lily! And Emily?" he said confused.

"Oh, hey James-" Emily started but was cut off by Lily.

"Oh hello Potter," Lily began in a less than pleasant voice, "We were just talking about you."

"You were?" he said with a puzzled face.

"Of course we were!" Lily explained, "What's not to talk about you? You know, I always wondered how you did it all."

"Did all what?" James asked uncertainly.

"You know very well what!" Lily retorted, "Do not lie to me James Potter! Sneaking around under you _invisibility cloak_ to do Merlin knows what!"

This statement was followed by an awkward silence and a death glare from Lily. James stood there biting his lip and looking uncertain while Emily stared at the ceiling feeling very out of place.

Lily looked like she wanted James to say something, so he responded with a completely honest "Yes." He ran his hands through his hair, and stole a glance at Lily. She still looked mad, but some bewilderment had joined the many feelings that her face reluctantly showed. Lily was terrible at hiding her feelings.

"Right Lily. That's what it is, all right," James finished. Really, there was so much more that James wanted to say, but he wouldn't let himself. Instead he went back to biting his lip and running his hands through his hair.

"Why don't you go back to the common room while I finish patrol. Unless you don't even trust me with that?" he asked.

Lily took a few moments to respond, "No, you're right Potter, I don't trust you," she said blandly, starting to walk towards the fourth floor staircase.

James opened his mouth, but closed it again because Emily had hit him on the back of the head. Instead, he just watched the love of his life walk away from him for the billionth time.

James turned around to face Emily. "Thanks. Now she hates me more than she ever did."

Emily smiled apologetically, "I love you too?"

"Where is my old cloak by the way?" he said casually as they started to walk towards the common room.

Emily stopped in her tracks, "Shit," her aqua eyes widened.

"Emily, please tell me you have it with you," James pleaded.

"Umm…"

"No! Shit Emily. Shit shit shit! This has been a fucking good night Ems, thank you!" James cried, running towards the staircase that led to the third floor.

Upon arriving there, Emily ran to the suit of armor finding it picked up and put back together. The cloak was gone.

"Shit," Emily said looking back at James. He in turn, ran to the sound of Lily's footsteps descending the corridor.

"Lily!" James shouted looking around for her but seeing no one.

"Looking for something Potter?" Lily said mysteriously, slipping a hand out from underneath the cloak so he could see her.

"Lily, there you are. Look I'm sorry I just-"

"Nope, I don't want to hear it Potter," Lily said cutting him off.

"Oh, Lily there you are," Emily said finally catching up to James.

"So nice of you to join us Emily," Lily said mock sweetly.

"Lily, I'm sorry, really I am. Please I just want my cloak back," James pleaded.

"Maybe, if you answer a few questions first…" Lily taunted.

James crossed his arms, "Okay?" he said questioningly.

"First," Lily asked, " How did you come upon this cloak?"

"It's a family heirloom," he answered automatically.

"Okay then," Lily agreed suspiciously, "Is this how everything over the past seven years has been accomplished?"

"If you mean snaking around at night, lighting off fireworks in Divination, that loud banging noise at two o'clock in the afternoon every Monday, hmm… but that Spanish hottie-" he stopped himself and turned beet red. "Uh, I mean that Spanish girl that appeared last year was all Sirius." James finished still blushing.

Lily stayed silent, calculating everything she was just unwillingly told. She couldn't help but feel admiration in their planning. Who would've guessed James had an invisibility cloak?

"Lily?"

Lily snapped her head up. She was in between James and Emily, but not close enough to them that either one could hear her breathing, which she was doing quite heavily at the moment because of her lack of air under the stuffy cloak.

"Okay Potter, have it your way," Lily said ripping off the cloak.

James took it wordlessly from Lily. Emily broke the silence after a while.

"No catch?" she asked.

Lily smirked.

"Why would there be any catch?" she asked mischievously, heading towards the Gryffindor common room. Before she turned the third floors corner, she shouted behind her, "Feel free to do the rest of the patrol, Potter. I'll be damned if I'm gonna do it."

As she disappeared around the corner, Emily glanced at James who was looking at his invisibility cloak.

"Did Lily just give me my cloak, not rat me out about having it, abandon her Head duties and shout a curse to me through the corridor?" he asked Emily, still looking at his cloak.

"Err… yeah," Em responded lamely.

James stared at Emily, "Pinch me."

Emily leaned over, her hand out.

"Figure of speech!" James yelled.

But that didn't stop Emily; she pinched his arm fiercely, sniggering all the while. James slapped her hand back and Emily sprinted towards the fourth floor staircase followed closely by her cousin.

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A/N:

**PLEASE READ, IMPORTANT!**

Hope you liked it!

Please review!

Please! We have a lot of typing to do, and we need the reviews to motivate us!!

The more reviews, the faster the next chapter will be on!

Come on push that pretty little button!

You know you want to!

**Alana & Hannah : P**


	3. An Afternoon Swim

Today was Saturday, the first day off since arriving at Hogwarts, and Lily was taking advantage of the hot, sticky weather

Today was Saturday, the first day off since arriving at Hogwarts, and Lily was taking advantage of the hot, sticky weather. Thanking Merlin that she remembered her bathing suit, she stumbled over to her trunk and dug recklessly through it. Expecting to find her same old bikini that just happened to be the exact shade of her eyes, it came as quite a shock when she saw that her bathing suit had transformed into a black ball of strings. Staring at it, she thought up a bunch of entirely different possibilities, all of which included Emily.

Untying the bundle of strings was about as hazardous as watching Lily play Qudditch. Not the untying exactly, but Lily's reaction when she saw her newly transformed bikini. The strings were especially long for the size of it considering it looked like someone had taken a ten year olds bathing suit and written a different size on tag.

"Emily!" Lily roared.

Ten minutes later, Lily was storming down to the Black Lake with the extremely uncomfortable bikini under a tank top and shorts, cursing under her breath. She spotted Emily huddled in a tight circle by the edge of the lake accompanied by the four infamous marauders. Lily noticed that Emily was wearing a bikini that was identical to hers under an extremely small mini skirt that was covering a very small portion (if it was even to be a portion) of her bottom half. Her hair was in a medium height ponytail and she was standing with her butt sticking out behind her, probably hoping that Sirius would go beside himself and smack it as he most regularly did.

As Lily drew nearer to the group, their already quiet voices became inaudible. An angry Lily quickly became a furious Lily as she stomped moodily towards the Black Lakes shores.

"It looks like it's someone's time of the month!" Sirius yelled as he turned away from the group. He then laughed at his own joke along with an unsure Peter.

Lily ignored Sirius and glared menacingly at Emily.

"What the hell is THIS?!" she cried, pulling down her shorts so Em could see the black bikini concealed under her clothes.

"Whoa, Lily!" Sirius made an "X" with both of his index fingers and held them out in front of him. "I like you and all but-" he glanced at James, "Prongs called you first, sorry. I prefer blondes anyway."

With out even looking at her, Lily knew that Emily's heart had just popped out of its bubbly balloon state. When Lily did look at her friend, she saw that her shoulders had shrunk and her eyes had lost their lively sparkle and drooped. As for her posture, Emily was now standing slumped over and her hip was no longer out making her butt look larger. The crazy things that make Em upset, Lily thought.

"So…? Why is my bathing suit suddenly this… thing?! Care to explain?" Lily questioned again.

Emily's head snapped up and she plastered a grin over her guilty face. "Yeah, umm… funny story about that…" she trailed off.

"Uh-huh, sure," Lily raised her eyebrows. "Well, I don't know about any of you, but I'm going to take a dip in my new skimpy bikini. Feel free to watch!" she exclaimed rater loudly to her audience, glancing at James and heading closer to the lake.

Lily than preceded to roughly strip off her clothing, not caring who around her was watching. On a normal occasion, she would have been a little more self conscious of publicly displaying herself in a bikini. It's not that she didn't look good in fact she looked great! She probably had the best bikini body in the whole school, and this being no regular occasion, she had no reason, not to, with out warning, strip to her bikini.

James stared at her in shock for a moment before forcing himself to look at the ground.

Throwing her clothes in a pile, Lily turned around and shouted back to the group, "Anyone care to join me?"

James, quite keen on the idea, started to walk towards Lily when Sirius grabbed his arm, "You don't have a bathing suit on, do you?"

"Err, no,"' he continued on quietly so only Sirius could hear him. "But I'm not about to pass up the chance to swim with my future wife!" Sirius simply shrugged and began to walk towards the Black Lake.

When Emily saw that Sirius was going, she ran after them shouting, "Wait for Emily!"

This left Remus and Peter standing alone. Remus rolling his eyes at his friends' foolishness walked back up to the castle. Peter, not wanting to be left behind, followed him nervously inside.

When they arrived at the lake, James and Sirius stripped to their boxers. Lily tried not to stare, but it was hard, James's suit was bright red and had broomsticks all over it.

"You two aren't wearing-" Lily stuttered shocked.

"Does us being in our boxers turn you on?" Sirius said squeezing between Emily and Lily, putting an arm around each of their shoulders.

Lily rolled her eyes, slipping away from him and jumping into the lake. "What are you waiting for?" Lily shouted when her head broke the waters ruffled surface.

Emily smiled flirtingly up at Sirius who still had his arm around her. "Let's go," she said.

Sirius and James jumped in the water, soon followed by Emily once she had taken off her skirt.

When Emily first went under water, Sirius swam up behind her. As soon as she came up for air, he whispered, "Boo!" in her ear. Emily let out a startled scream, turning to splash him with water. Sirius in turn splashed her back.

"Hey, I don't mean to interrupt the love fest over there," James said, every word dripping with sarcasm. "Sirius, shall I have the pleasure of this race?"

Sirius bowed, "I would be much obliged." He said as he saluted Emily, who giggled, and headed over to James.

Emily swam over to a puzzled Lily. "You know those books that they've been reading on how to charm girls?" she asked.

Lily nodded.

"I think they've been taking them a bit too seriously."

Lily shook her head. "Why is it me who gets the stalker? I'd personally rather have the pervert."

Emily and Lily watched Sirius and James reach the light blue blow up float about fifty feet from the middle of the Lake.

"He isn't a perv, he's hott." Emily said a little delayed.

"You did not just tell me that Sirius Black-" Lily's retort was cut off by James's shout.

"Ladies care to join two outstanding gentlemen." James asked lamely.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Now that's just insulting."

Emily yelled in the direction of the float, "Maybe if you two stop reading, or at least stop repeating what you supposedly 'learn' from those stupid books on how to charm girls, you might get some company over there."

A moment's silence followed Emily's profound words. A silence in which Lily could swear she heard James say, "I told you Emily was lying when she said Evans would go out with me if I started taking advice from that girl charming book."

Lily turned to Emily and raised her eyebrows to her hairline. Emily giggled in return and then shot off in the direction of her cousin and Sirius. Lily sighed, if only Emily hadn't taken those free swimming lessons over the summer. With Alice and Mary doing homework, what other choice did Lily have but to follow Emily? If one thing about her future were set in stone, it would be that Emily owed her big time.

Lily glared in the direction of her friend but started swimming towards the float. Upon arriving there, she pulled herself up onto it folding her arms across her chest and glaring moodily at the shore. James and Emily smiled and looked at each other before pulling them selves up on either side of her.

"What's wrong Lily?" Emily said smiling sweetly, "Aren't you having fun?"

Lily just sighed and continued staring away from them.

"Why are you guys out of the water?" Sirius asked trying to pull himself up to join them.

Kicking his feet to get up he hit something with his foot.

"Ahhhhh!" he screamed with his manly girl scream. "I hit something! What if it was a whale or a hippogriff!"

Lily looked at him sighing, "Sirius, hippogriffs live above the water."

Sirius frantically pulled himself up the rest of the way and lay flat on his back breathing heavily. "I think I killed it with my manly powers."

James snorted and mumbled, "Mmm, manly alright."

The sun was just beginning to hit the spot where they floated in the lake and more and more people were coming outside to enjoy the nice weather. Emily lay on her back, closing her eyes. James looked at her with his brow wrinkled and asked, "Are you trying to tan?"

"No," Emily said sitting up and rolling her eyes, "I'm drying off and getting warm."

"Oh," Lily said finally smiling, "I see, just drying off. Of course you wouldn't be laying yourself out in front of Sirius." She said quietly and more to her self and James.

"Although," Emily began, "I could go for a nice tan. Does anyone have any tanning lotion?" she finished sitting up and arching her back.

Lily and James smirked.

"Yeah, remember last year you put one in the compartment under the float? You could go check and see if its still there." Lily replied.

Emily stood up, shakily made her way over to the edge of the float and stuck her foot in the water. "Merlin its cold!" she screamed.

"That's too bad," came a deep voice behind her just as Sirius pushed her into the murky depths of the Black Lake. He then turned around and gave a grinning James a high-five.

"Nice one Padfoot!"

Lily couldn't help but crack a smile and Sirius caught her in the act and put an impressed face on.

"Wow Evans, you do have a sense of humor!" he said as Emily's head broke the waters surface.

"Sirius Black you are a dead man!" she exclaimed while climbing up onto the float.

Sirius just grinned. "Is poor little Emily afraid to get wet?"

Emily tackled Sirius and pinned him down to the bottom of the float, then she proceeded to attempt to roll him off of the edge. When this proved difficult she yelled to her cousin, "JAMES! If you don't help me I swear I'll-" but that was all she needed to say to get his much needed aid. Seconds later their was a piercing so called "manly" scream directly to Lily's left and a triumphant Emily was staring down at a wet, scrambled Sirius.

"For the last time Padfoot, I wouldn't mess with the Potters'!" James said (once again) lamely to his best friend.

Lily shook her head. "Potter, that is the third corniest thing I have heard in my life. The other two being the things you said earlier."

Emily giggled while James looked hurt.

Sirius squinted against the sun and looked to the shore. "Were we always this far out?" he asked no one in particular, climbing back up onto the float.

" I thought we were more that way," James said pointing towards the direction of the castle, "Have we been floating?"

These words sent Emily shooting up from her tanning spot. Shielding her eyes from the sun she said, "We can't possibly be moving… Do the people look smaller to you?"

Lily who had just been listening to their panicked voices finally stood up from her spot on the float to see for herself if they had actually been moving. "Shit," she whispered. They had moved, a lot. Now they were somewhere in the middle of the lake.

"How are we going to get back?" Emily questioned. "That's way to far to swim."

Lily began to take charge of the situation. "We should just sit and wait. Someone's bound to notice that we've moved. Or that we haven't come back to the castle yet…"

"We're going to die out here all alone! Oh Merlin, I didn't even get to see James and Lily finally get together! Quick! You two kiss so I can die a less painful death! I haven't even had a girlfriend yet this year! I'm getting paler! Do you think I look paler to you? Oh no, I'm dying already! I'm too young to die!" Sirius screamed running around the float knocking into people. Lily grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him off the float. Once he had scrambled back up he said to them, "You guys are so mean to me! We're going to die and Lily pushes me off the float? What did I ever do to you?"

James sighed, "Does anyone have duct tape?"

Emily and Lily laughed, though Lily was really thinking about what Sirius had said. Would they really get together? Should they? She shook the thought from her head. It wouldn't happen. Lily wouldn't let it, even if she wanted to.

Emily lay down on her back, putting her arms beside her. "If we're going to be stuck out here, then I better get a tan."

Sirius sat down beside her, "You won't let me die, will you Emily?" his lower lip sticking out.

Emily smiled sneakily, "Of course not Sirius, come sit by me."

It only took Lily a moment to figure out what Emily was doing. Glaring at her, Lily folded her arms across her chest and took her new seat beside James.

James smiled at Lily. "So, how are you Evans?"

"Seeing as I'm stuck on a raft in the middle of the Black Lake sitting next to you? Horribly." She said refusing to take her eyes off the shore, hoping that would somehow help their current situation.

James sat in silence, looking down sadly. "Oh."

"How did we start floating anyway?" Sirius asked.

"Remember that thing that you kicked? That was the rope connecting us to the anchor," Lily said sighing.

Sirius looked confused, "If you knew that then why didn't you tell us? We could of swam back."

"Do you honestly think that if I had known that then I wouldn't have told you? This isn't exactly my ideal way to spend a Saturday." Lily said.

"I don't think any of us really want to be stuck out in the middle of the lake," Emily said from her tanning spot, "Even if I do get a great tan."

The hours began to roll by and the sun grew hotter overhead. Lily felt herself drifting to sleep and tried to fight it as best she could, but with no prevail. Laying down in her sleep, she rested her head subconsciously on James' lap.

Sirius looked over at James watching Lily sleep and smiled.

"Wow Prongs, maybe this whole stuck-out-in-the-middle-of-the-lake-thing is actually working out for you."

James lifted his head up to see Sirius wink at him. He grinned back.

Sirius then lifted his gaze to Emily; he noticed her bikini top had loose. Wow she was hott.

Automatically assuming that Emily was asleep as well, Sirius asked James, "If Emily wasn't your cousin, would you go out with her?"

James's answer was almost immediate.

"No."

"Really? Why"

"Lily-"

"Oh, if it's about Lily again then don't even start!"

"Well, would you go out with Emily?"

Sirius paused for a moment. "Yeah, I think I would."

James smirked. "So if I said that she liked you right now, would you ask her out?"

"Probably,"

"Not just because of how hott you think she is?"

"Umm… No, actually. I think she's nice and smart, and brilliant at school."

James gave him a questioning look.

"Okay! I would go out with her mostly because of her hotness!"

James looked satisfied.

"Git," Sirius muttered.

Just then, something shook the float causing Lily to awake with a start.

"What was that?" she said lifting her head up, too occupied to notice that it was on James's lap.

"I don't know… What do you think it could have been-" James said just before the float was hit again.

Emily sat up now, smiling because she had heard Sirius and James's whole conversation about her, "It was probably just the Giant Squid."

"Just the Giant Squid? Just the GIANT SQUID? What if it eats us? We'll be crunched into tiny pieces and all die mixed together! What if it leaves us here all bitten and bleeding to death and-" Sirius began to panic again.

"Sirius, everything's going to be okay," Emily cut him off. "Let's just-"

But the float was suddenly tipped over by the Giant Squid.

Seconds later, Lily emerged from the water to find Sirius screaming his manly scream.

"BLOODY HELL! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" Sirius was screeching.

Lily looked over to find the float was only partially blown up still and couldn't hold people on it. "We're going to have to swim back!" she yelled to James and Emily over Sirius's screams.

Lily, Emily and James started swimming the long swim back to shore, holding onto what was left of the float. It took Sirius a few moments to regain his manliness and swim after them shouting, "You can't leave me! Wait!"

After over an hour of swimming, they were only half way. The people in the distance were starting to go inside the castle.

"We should take another break," Sirius said, stopping kicking and just holding on to the remainder of the float,

"I'm so tired!" Emily said resting her head on the float.

No one else spoke for a while; they were all, all out of breath.

"Let's keep going," Lily said after a while.

Everyone slipped off the float and continued on their way towards shore.

What seemed like an eternity later (mostly because of Sirius's wimpy complaints), they had finally reached land.

Lying on the shore, they panted until they had regained their ability to walk back up to the castle.

"I'm never going swimming with you guys again," Emily said as they reached the spot that they had left their clothes.

"Maybe it was some kind of curse because we had both the Heads with us," Sirius said slipping his shirt and pants on with the others.

James and Lily both glared at him.

"Let's just go eat. It must be almost dinnertime and people will be wondering why we were gone so long." Lily said making her was to the castle followed by James, Emily and Sirius.


	4. Treacherous Falls and Polyjuice Potion

**Treacherous Falls and Polyjuice Potion**

** By The GryffindorGals**

Lily hurriedly walked across the common room, books in hand. She just wanted to get to her next class, potions, which she was now in fact late for. What she didn't notice in her dash for the door was the rug. Sirius had been impersonating Severus Snape at lunch that day. He had messed up the rug so there was now a bump in it. Upon arriving at the bump, Lily stumbled over it, and then tripped over her own two feet. In surprise, she dropped her books, which scatted, all over the ground. She closed her eyes, expecting to hit the ground, when a pair of strong arms wrapped around her. Cautiously, she opened her eyes to find herself looking at a very worried James Potter.

"Lily! Are you all right? Here let me-" James said setting her carefully down on her feet and gathering up all of her loose papers and opens books. She knelt down to help him.

"Err, thanks James. I have to go. Late for potions," Lily said awkwardly.

"Yeah, okay then," James got in just before she climbed though the portrait hole.

He had a moment to stare in confusion at the spot Lily had just left before Sirius skipped over to him.

"Hey Prongs! Did Evans just fall on you? Whoa, that was weird. So where you been? You missed Frank, he fell asleep on the couch and he was drooling and snoring and you could see up his nose! Hey, I thought up a new prank. Okay, so we should ask Remus how to turn people into guinea pigs and then-"

James cut him off, "Yeah, that's great Sirius," he said absent-mindedly, staring at the spot Lily had fallen.

"Prongs- what happened to you? Evans is controlling your life!" Sirius shouted.

James was still staring at the spot Lily had fallen, re-living the memory over and over in his mind, as not to forget it.

"Prongs? James? Hello? What are you staring at?" Sirius asked, waving a hand in front of James' face.

"Uh yeah, right, I agree with Moony too."

"James, something's wrong with you."

Just then Remus came around the corner, he opened his mouth to speak, but noticing James' blanks stare he closed it.

"Prongs is high off Evans' presence," Sirius supplied.

Remus rolled his eyes at this and spoke to James, "Professor Slughorn wants you," and then he turned to Sirius, "Padfoot, " he said, " if you're late for class one more time, it's detention."

Sirius shrugged, "What's one more detention? My record is far from clean. As was yours Prongs, before you went all "Head Boy" on us.

Remus snapped his fingers in James' face, which brought him out of his trance long enough to steer himself away from the scene, and towards the dungeons.

"Emily!" James shouted after his cousin who was making her way to the great hall for dinner. "Emily! Wait!" James said finally catching up to her. "Will you do me a favor?" he asked as they made they moved along with the sea of hungry students.

"Depends on what it is," Emily answered questioningly. James pulled her by the arm through the rush of students to an abandoned corridor.

"I need a bit of your hair," James said reaching for a lock of Emily's jet-black hair that was identical to his.

"Why?" she wanted to know.

"Err… no reason, it's just, uh, so pretty?" James tried, still reaching for her hair.

"I'm flattered, now really, why do you need my hair?" Emily asked again.

"Polyjuice potion, if you must know, now the hair?" James pleaded.

"Oh? Polyjuice potion. You want to be me eh? Well, who wouldn't? Let me guess, this has something to do with Lily right?" Emily questioned.

"No! Uh well, not really, sort of, err yeah it does but-" James was cut off by Emily.

"No James, I'm not helping you anymore. She's not going to go out with you. You've tried before and if it didn't work then why the hell would it work now? Just find another girl, I could name twenty right now who would go out with you this instant.

James pondered this for a moment, running his hand through his hair absentmindedly.

"I can make it worth your while." he proposed sneakily, mischief gleaming in his eyes.

"You have my attention," Emily told him, "go on."

James continued. "You like Sirius, right?" he gave her a knowing grin.

Emily hit him on the shoulder. "Shut up James! Someone might hear you!" she said turning her head to look behind her and blushing slightly. "Err, yeah I do like him, so what?"

"So I can hook you two up. _If_, you give me a strand of your hair. I want to be you so I can talk to Lily about me. I want to see what she says about me when I'm not there. Deal?"

"Deal. When do you want it?"

"Later, after dinner, but I'll take the potion tomorrow night. Until then put in a good word for me to Lily, talk about how mature I am, how much you admire me for my amazing Quiddich skills, how hot I am-"

"Don't get too carried away lover boy! Do the same for me, tell Sirius if you weren't my cousin you'd date me."

"Now look who's getting carried away!" James shook his head. "Come on, let's go to dinner."

"Emily," Lily called to her friend after dinner was over. "Aren't you coming up to the common room?"

"Err, no, not yet. You go on without me though. I wanted a word with my dear cousin. James?" Emily called.

"Uh, yeah, you guys go on. I'll be right there." James said to his confused friends.

"Okay then…" a confused Sirius replied as, Remus, Peter and Lily made their way up the stairs that led to the Gryffindor common room. Once they were out of earshot, James pulled out a pair of scissors and handed them to Emily.

"Here you are," Emily said handing James three strands of her jet-black hair. He dropped them into a small vile and pushed the cork into place.

"Thanks," James said as they made their way to the common room, "Oh and when Lily asks why we had to talk, just say our Great Uncle Billy died. That's what I'll tell Sirius, Remus and Peter."

"Okay," Emily replied, "Do we even have a great uncle Billy?"

"Err… not that I know of, but you never can be quite sure."

"Okay Good. I thought that I had forgotten about him. Not that it really matters."

They had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"," James said and she swung forward revealing a bored looking Sirius, a tired looking Lily a worried looking Remus, and Peter passed out on the floor.

"James!" Sirius said springing up and whacking Remus in the process, "What took you so long? I thought Emily had murdered you or something! Don't scare me like that. I had time to think up a whole new prank. It involves those muggle scrabble letters and-"

"Sorry to interrupt this prank-making session, but I've got homework to do. Anyone care to join me?" Lily asked.

"I do," Remus replied standing up and moving with Lily to a table.

"Err," James said dreading his next words, "I've got homework too that uh, I should, err, probably do."

Everyone turned to James with a look of horror and surprise on their faces. It was Lily who spoke first.

"James Potter, doing… homework?"

Sirius burst out laughing, "James," he said gasping for air, "doing homework! That's a good one Prongs! Oh man that was funny," Sirius said gaining control over his laughter.

"I was serious, Sirius." James said with a straight look on his face.

"Okay James, really! You're murdering me here," Sirius cried, tears streaming down his face from laughing.

Fed up, James stopped trying to convince Sirius, reached for his bag, and walked over to the table where Lily and Remus were sitting open mouthed at him. For once, Lily had nothing to say to James. This was the side of James she hadn't seen yet, the responsible side. _Whoa Lily!_ She told herself, _don't get too ahead of yourself, he could be planning something…_But for once, thinking didn't help Lily. James hadn't bothered to do his homework, at least at a reasonable time in years! If he would give up his precious time to study with her did that mean something? Why was her stomach bubbling nervously? Was she smiling at him? Lily quickly wiped the smile off her face and turned to stare at her potions homework, reminding herself that later she could ponder over this as long as she pleased.

"Lily?" It was Remus and by the slight annoyance his voice he had been saying her name for quite some time. "Huh?" Lily said blankly.

Remus gave her a penetrating stare, "Lily, you should go to bed-you look flushed."

"Oh, no I'm fine," she answered automatically, "My cheeks are always like this."

It was true; her skin was so light that her cheeks were always flushed, but even more so when she was tired, or nervous.

Emily strolled over to Lily and gazed suspiciously upon her cheeks. "Lily, you really do look flushed. Maybe you should hit the sack early tonight. You could be coming down with what Mary had."

"Mary has been sick for quite a while," James said seriously. "You should really go to bed, or maybe go visit Madame Pomfrey?"

"No, no, really-" Lily began just before Emily grabbed her hand and dragged her up the stairs to their dormitory.

"Lily. What. The. Hell. Was. That." Emily asked in a dead serious whisper.

Lily was glad that it was dark in the dormitory, for her cheeks were burning with nerves and embarrassment.

Speaking as so she wouldn't wake Alice and Mary, Lily said, "Hmm? What was what?"

Emily gave Lily a death stare. "You totally spaced out on Remus because you were staring at James! My cousin! James Potter! Lily Evens what has gotten into you? I saw-" Emily gasped and a smirk appeared on her face.

"What?" Lily said not quite sure she wanted to hear what Emily had to say.

"You fancy James don't you?! I knew it admit it! You've liked him all along!" Emily said her voice getting louder.

"I-what, no! No! Of course I don't like Potter! I don't know what came over me but I do not like James Potter," Lily said hoping to appear to have full confidence about her answer. But now she wasn't so sure anymore…

Lily gave her friend a look that said she didn't want to talk about it anymore and closed the curtains of her four-poster, not even bothering to change into her pajamas. Even though she had stopped talking aloud, her mind was buzzing with questions as she tried to get to sleep. Discussing things with Emily more would help very little, for she didn't know the answers to the questions her friend was throwing at her.

The next morning, Lily awoke early due to the sun. The light shinning through her curtains had never bothered her before. Maybe it was the dream or rather nightmare she had had that woke her up. She had been walking around the Black Lake with Emily, Alice and Mary. Suddenly, there was a hand on her shoulder making her turn around. This hand belonged to James Potter. Instead of getting annoyed and yelling at him for touching her, she kissed him. Her friends just kept walking as if they didn't notice she had left them. Strangely, Lily didn't mind. James was the one to break away. Before Lily could say anything to him, she woke up.

"What a weird dream she said to herself getting up and stretching, stiff from sleeping in her clothes.

Lily then dressed quietly as not to wake her sleeping friends. Climbing down her dormitory steps, she entered an empty and quiet common room. She grabbed a book and seated herself on the comfiest chair by the fireplace.

After ten minutes of attempting to read, with no success, she lay on the couch and tries to sleep some more. Lily's mind was buzzing; she couldn't sit still long enough to do anything now. She was so unaware of her surroundings, that she didn't even notice when a figure who had just descended the boy's dormitory stairs sat down next to her.

"Hi Lily," Remus said quietly.

"Oh, Hi, I uh… you can't sleep either?" she replied.

"No," he said. His remark was followed by silence from Lily.

"I can't help but notice," Lily blurted feeling the need to speak what her mind was screaming, "that James has… changed a lot since last year.

Remus smiled, "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

Lily pondered this. "Good… I think," she replied, turning to face him. "He's been more, responsible, and well all around more mature. I thought I liked this new James, but the more I've been around him, the more I found that I missed who he used to be," she smiled, "Always pulling pranks and asking me out and just being all-around obnoxious. Now I know what you're going to say…"

"Lily sometimes you don't realize how much you like something until it's gone," Remus said softly, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you've always like James. Even if just as a friend, or maybe more than that."

Lily sat quietly turning to face the fire again, avoiding Remus' eyes. After a long pause she finally said, "You know what Remus," she was watching the flames dance in the fireplace, "I think you might be right," she turned towards him again making eye contact. "Remus, what should I do…?" she said in a help-less way.

"Lily, incase you haven't noticed, I've never had a girlfriend," he sighed, "I'm not so great with girls, why don't you ask Sirius for advice-he's had enough experience…"

Lily gaped at Remus, "Incase you haven't noticed the only girls Sirius gets are the dumb blondes who think he's hot," she said harshly.

Then she quickly added, "Sorry- but that's just my opinion-"

But to her surprise Remus laughed. "I always wondered if it was just me that thought that."

Lily laughed too.

"But really Remus," she said, "You're that sensitive, smart, sweet guy every girl secretly wants to be with," and added more to herself than to Remus, "and who some girls just won't shut up about."

Remus first looked flattered and then confused. Lily thought it best not to tell Remus about Mary's crush on him.

"Um… you'll find out for yourself soon enough, I'm really not supposed to tell you," Lily said thinking about what Mary would do to her if she had told Remus.

"You seriously want to know my opinion of handling the situation? If you really think you like James, say yes next time he asks you out."

Lily sat and stared at Remus in shock like he had just asked her to go skinny-dipping in the Black Lake in broad daylight.

"But he hasn't asked me out all year. How do I know that he will now? I don't even know if I want him to-" Lily blurted out.

"If you want him to, he will, I'm sure," he replied. "In the mean-time, I'd talk to Emily about it, she is his cousin after all."

Lily smiled, "Okay, thanks Remus and uh…" she pondered her right to tell him the truth, "Someone you and I both know very well is completely obsessed with you, and I thought you might want to know. I think you and I both know exactly who I'm talking about."

Remus smiled and said, "Goodnight Lily."

"Goodnight Remus," she said making her way up to her dormitory.


End file.
